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I think I'm most disappointed with Parker's play so far--because he's proven that he's so much more capable...he just seems a little disengaged (or scared?) out there for some reason...
Tony Allen seems a little crazy, and not in a good way...reminds me a bit of Ron Artest without the humor...
I think I'm most disappointed with Parker's play so far--because he's proven that he's so much more capable...he just seems a little disengaged (or scared?) out there for some reason...
It was nice to see the Spurs runs some plays for Tim, and it was nice to see him assert himself on offense. I haven't seen him play with that type of fire in quite a while.. The Spurs really need to get him involved offensively once in a while if they are planning on making a serious run in these playoffs.
I also loved how Hill, Parker, Jefferson, and Ginobili pushed the pace and were fast-breaking quite a bit... I feel the Spurs can run many teams into the ground I don't beleive there are that many teams that keep up with our horses if we decide to run. The Spurs are very good when they attack early before an opposing team can set up their defense.
Last edited by G-Dawgg; 04-21-2011 at 01:21 AM.
Yeah, in the playoffs the last few years, Bonner jogged up and down the court like a zombie because he was so petrified to shoot open shots. He gave the Spurs nothing outside of his shots ... and he missed a large majority of those.
To see him doing little things in addition to knocking down big threes is shocking and deserves props. I wonder how many others can overlook Bonner's past failures and give him his due for these first two games.
For the record, I think he'll probably struggle out on the road but two solid games in the playoffs is more than the Spurs have gotten out of him in most years.
Good point. Mayo definitely has a bit of JR Smith in him.
Bro, I've been tough on Bonner over the years for his choking. I didn't want the Spurs to re-sign him. Coming into the playoffs, even though he had a pretty good regular season, I wouldn't have cared if Pop said Bonner was on the inactive list for the entire postseason.
But I'd be dishonest if I didn't give him credit after the first two games. He has vastly surpassed my expectations.
And what is the problem with "Horry-esque"? I'm not talking 2005 Finals Game 5 Horry. I'm talking typical Horry where he'd play tough on defense, make a couple big plays sporadically and then hit a big fourth quarter three-pointer. Nothing overly special. For one game, I think Bonner deserves the comparison.
Historically speaking and looking to future games, I wouldn't compare the two. But for one night . . .
Randolph goes for 11 and 5 and all the bigs "blew ass" on defense?
Drawing board, back to it, bro
Great point. Early on, Manu seemed to be in pain. After halftime, the pain seemed to be gone. I can only imagine how many cortisone shots he got at intermission.
So yeah, that elbow is going to be a mess in the morning.
After Game 1, I thought it might have to come to that because McDyess played like he was on his basketball deathbed. But McDyess bounced back and played really well ... especially late. He took on Randolph a few times and shut him down -- something the Spurs have struggled to do all season long.
Game 2 bought McDyess at least a couple more games as a starter. But Blair has shown enough positives that he could take that role back if McDyess regresses.
Should tiago play?
I haven't screamed " ing Ginger" at all during these first 2 games so he must be doing something right.
Remember OJ, when the pressure comes down on the Grizz, they're going to need a release valve.....just shoot the rock baby.
I like the move not as a punishment for Dice (he's the big I trust the most outside of Tim), but as a way to don't have Blair and Bonner at the same time in the floor, if Tim and Antonio start then is almost impossible to don't have Dejuan and Matt in the court at the same time at some point of the game.
I would start Blair but I'd still play Dice more minutes and at the end of games.
If spurs survive this series, I'm confident they can take any team in the nba. their defense and hustle will be honed in this series.
Bonner played great. He was almost Elson-esque.
I'd really want to know if Manu have worsen his elbow injury playing in Game 2. I mean, he clearly took some shots, but apart from the pain what does playing mean, worsen the injury, delaying treatment or just doesn't affect it...
Apart from the elbow he seemed totally healthy, if TP doesn't step up and takes the load we'll go as far as that f'king elbow goes.
Thx timvp. Great analysis as usual.
We have to get over that. Ain't happening. Sad, but that's just the way it is.
Just re-watched the first half, looking just at the bigs. I've got notes. If there's interest, I'll post them up. Meanwhile, I'll sum up the half. I'll post again after I finish the second half.
Bonner was great on defense, though the Spurs doubled his man virtually every time he got the ball. Sadly necessary because he got scored on when they didn't. He's played out of his mind and has managed not to be a liability. It sucks when that's the ceiling for your center. The reason we laugh at the comparison to Horry is that Horry managed to be a difference maker, and could make a play when you needed it. You also didn't need to double team the Darrell Arthurs of the world every single time they got the ball against Horry. But Bonner made smart rotations, switched well, was tough, made the smart play EVERY time and got some strong rebounds because he was playing strong and paying attention at all times. Zero lapses that I could see.
Dice was absolutely awful in the first half. I didn't notice how badly he sucked the first time I watched the game. Bad position, bad fouls, bad defense, failure to block out, missed rotations. You name it and Dice did it, unless it was good. He had a sequence in the second quarter that saw the Spurs go down by six despite playing well as a team. He was the absolute worst Spur on the floor again.
On offense, both guys routinely get completely left alone and aren't made to pay for it. Bonner's got two shot attempts and Dice has three. It's shocking how much the Spurs have to play four on five on that end. I thought these guys were supposed to spread the floor? This is why Memphis has a lead despite the Spurs playing pretty well. Bonner has been open in the corner or out at his spot on the left perimeter several times with nobody near him. The one time he actually got the ball out there he hesitated and missed because he was about three feet behind the line.
Second half starting.
Sad to say but I just do not see how Manu can play for 6 weeks with his elbow like that. I wonder if they win game 3 if the Spurs will take a chance to rest him.
I know ... I know
But what does it mean that someone has to get over himself? I hate that phrase regarding Pop and his rookies.
- Duncan: somebody commented in the game thread that he was better when facing Gasol and that's the truth. Duncan facing Gasol = basket; Duncan with his back to the basket = missed jumper or TO.
- Ginobili: "You [...] think that he struggled ... but that couldn't be further from the truth". Not really. He struggled, that's for sure. He struggled to find his shot, he struggled to shoot FTs. But he was still Manu, and that's all the Spurs needed last night.
- Parker: my main disappointment re: Parker is that the Grizz are often leaving him some room to penetrate and either he doesn't take that oportunity, or he does, goes too far and ends up neither releasing a shot nor making a pass. This is not vintage Parker for sure. The other concern is that he should really watch some tape of Manu "innocuously" making contact before shooting for an and-1. Parker makes a point to zig-zag through the defense never touching anyone. A little bump here and there and he's be doing to be the charity line a lot more often.
- RJ: yes, some of the Spurs players should be able to deny Young or Arthur one-on-one. It doesn't happen. FML. Otherwise I liked the aggressive way he played, he tried to penetrate and create and it was nice. The corner 3 off the awesome pass from Parker was a momentum-builder too.
- McDyess: yes he played well at the end, but does that give him a pass for stinking the place up in the first half. He was BY FAR the worst Spur at the time. He was a no-show on D and I cringed every time he took one of his signature jumpers (and missed with frightening regularity), especially when there was no pressure on the clock and/or open teammates. So, in short, no that wasn't the McDyess I expected after Game 1. I expected a McDyess that would give the Spurs a lift on a couple of key jumpers, and who would play D like in the 4th... but for the whole game.
- Hill: nice comeback. Based on history, I although thought he was going to fade into irrelevance yet another time, but he came back huge. However if that's how he plays at home, and knowing his history of disappearing on the road, I am a bit worried about the 2 games in Memphis. He HAS to show up in the next 2 games.
- Bonner: yes, he didn't suck. Yes, it sucks that we are happy he simply didn't suck. But at least I liked his defense, he was tough and physical at times which is something I basically never saw from him. Maybe he'll surprise me and land a flagrant on Conley in Game 3 (somebody needs to put that guy's ass on the floor once and for all and let him know he is in the Spurs paint and not in his garden).
- Neal: I didn't really pay attention to his rookie moments. What I noticed was: no play run for him; and ice in his veins on that shot-clock beating jumper. That's the kind of shot that brings nice intangibles to the team and builds up confidence.
- Blair was great, played like the fighter we expected him to be. Unfortunately the same unfocused, reckless energy that can work wonders on D is a liability on O.
- Pop: still same stubborn old man. Any coach that plays a Bonner-Blair frontcourt against Memphis mighty front line while Splitter is rotting away on the bench has a C- ceiling as far as I'm concerned. And an invitation to the next "Masochist Anonymous" meeting.
No way ... this injury will not get really better by resting two or three days more. Spurs need Manu in every game ... his deficiencies in this game were more part of being rusty than because of the injury.
Just one fake is all it takes. Instead the turnaround jumper against a guy who is 7'1'' is not a good idea. And normally Timmy uses the turnaround J from the right to draw a foul, but that has not happened in a while.
6 point win and Manu with +16 - Manu, get that elbow in order ASAP, we need you
I only managed to see bits off the first half on a poor stream, but speaking of the difference between McDyess - how about that bone crunching screen on Battier after Manu's steal... I cringed for Battier when I saw that!
Just watched the second half. Bonner was still great defensively. Had one bad bounce the entire night. If only the Spurs would pass the ball to him he could actually spread the floor, because he and Dice were both open like crazy while the Grizzlies sagged away from them. You want the Spurs to suddenly make this series easy? Have the guards kick the ball out to Dice and Bonner early and often. Bonner finally got a pass for a three at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and it came from Blair. Bonner got two good passes in the game that I can remember. The other one came from Parker on a drawn up play.
Honest to God, if your whole rationale for playing Matt all these minutes for all these years is so that he can spread the floor, then you have to work to pass the freakin' ball to him. Randolph and Arthur just left him completely alone out there while the Spurs' guards tried to go against an extra defender in the paint. You want to get beat up before the second round? Keep that up. It's really not surprising that people are calling for Splitter to be playing, because if you aren't going to have your center part of the offense, where he's getting ANY shots at all, then he might as well be standing under the basket waiting for a rebound or ready to draw a foul. All three of Memphis' bigs ended the game with 5 fouls, probably less than half of them drawn by Spurs bigs.
I've mentioned previously that you could play Matt Bonner for 6-12 minutes a game and get him several good shots by running plays for him. I'd imagine that a jump shooter shoots better with fresh legs, instead of asking him to shove a bigger stronger guy around for 30 minutes and then try to hit threes at the end of the game. To Bonner's credit, he's done well, but playoff runs are long, and this is game 2.
Defensively, Dice was horrid the entire game, and that includes the fourth quarter. The fact that Randolph missed three easy shots in the last few minutes does not make for good defense. Zach got right to the rim each time and simply missed. One of those misses resulted in a Tony Allen putback dunk, and another in Duncan's sixth foul, so it's not like they weren't giving up points. Dice drew a charge on a questionable (probably makeup) call and drew Randolph's fifth foul on a pump fake on the other end. Absolutely the worst player for the Spurs in the game.
By the way, Gasol, Arthur and Randolph scored on a high percentage of jumpers. Again. And they did it right over the outstretched hands of Blair, Bonner and Dice. They didn't score as many points this game because they didn't attempt as many, but they were going in.
Last edited by Obstructed_View; 04-21-2011 at 06:12 AM.
From what Ive seen this is a suprisingly even matched series. I guess I didnt realize those Griz were that good and Ill give them some credit here. The reason why Manu is great is because he plays 110% on every play, even if he misses his shot. If the rest of the guys play that hard, we will win the series. If not, we are going to be knocked off early. Parker is the key.
It was pretty obvious that Manu's elbow was bothering him through out the game, but his energy, smarts and toughness was the key to this win. He is f*ckin amazing.
Tim did some great things on defense and was clutch on offense when needed.
Tony was abused and is looking really shaky out there. He really needs to get back to passing the ball if he is only going to pull up for jump shots late in the game. Hopefully, the real Parker shows up on the road. We are going to need it.
I also thought Bonner was doing a fine job of banging with the bigs and even hit another key 3 in the 4th. All we can hope is that Bonner and/or Hill shows up in Memphis. If so, the confidence gained will pay dividends in later rounds.
Dice did look awful out there and I can only hope that he will get better as the series continues. Fortunately, Dice is a savy veteran and will respond.
Blair is a high energy ball of chaos out there and I love it. He is improving, but is still showing his inexperience on the court. Fortunately, he is fearless and has amazing skills for his size. Unfortunately, he is probably the main reason that Tiago remains on the bench, so I am also torn about seeing him get playing time.
The complete lack of any minutes for Tiago is still a mystery to me. One would think Pop would test him out in the line up for a few minutes at some point. Just to examine your options.
Memphis already got home cooking in SA. Duncan gets a sixth foul because Gasol gives him a forearm shiver? Yeah, it can't get much worse than it has been.
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